Dirk Kuyt is convinced that the Netherlands will be able to beat the title favorites at the European Championship. The former international thinks that France, Spain, Italy, England, Belgium, Germany and Portugal have better players than the the Dutch, but that it is ultimately about the best team. “I really believe in that, because I always look at the weapons that are available,” says Kuyt.
Kuyt points to a statement by former national coach Bert van Marwijk, who said that not the best players become champions, but the best team takes the prize. “If the the Dutch believes in that and starts to play better and better, I’m sure they can beat the big countries too,” Kuyt said in an interview. The Telegraph. He believes that the Dutch has offensive weapons. “We have them with Donyell Malen, Memphis, Wout Weghorst and Steven Berghuis. I also see that it sometimes goes too fast for Weghorst, but with him almost every chance is a goal. The latter is not yet the case with Malen.”
Weghorst seems to be preparing for a base place with the the Dutch squad at the European Championship, where national coach Frank de Boer wants to play in the much-discussed 5-3-2 system. Kuyt understands that the national coach wants to play in that system. “But I wonder whether you should stick to that throughout the tournament”, says Kuyt, who emphasizes that De Boer can easily switch to the familiar 4-3-3 with ‘one or two’ substitutions. “Then you won’t get any less with Donyell Malen and Steven Berghuis, we saw on Sunday”, he refers to the 3-0 victory over Georgia in the Grolsch Veste.
Frenkie de Jong has so far not come out well in the 5-3-2 system, Kuyt also sees. “It would also be an option for me to bring him back a line. Especially if you are much stronger than your opponent, I think you can provide a lot of football there with Daley and Frenkie,” says Kuyt. “Frenkie is not a pure defender, but he can defend well. And to speak in Cruijff terms: if you have the ball, you don’t have to defend. With him in the back you lose few balls and you play forward.”
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